╨╧рб▒с > ■ ) + ■ ( ье┴ 7 Ё┐ Z bjbjUU " 7| 7| Z l ъ ъ ъ ъ Ў / ╢ ╥ ╘ ╘ ╘ ╘ ╘ ╘ х Т ╘ ╘ ╛ щ ╛ ╛ ╛ ╥ ╛ ╥ ╛ ╛ ╥ ╥ Рq√╤ж╨ ╥ ъ $ ╥ ╥ 0 / ╥ Ч : Д Ч ╥ ╛ ┘ JanuaryТs Note from your Council President
Happy New Year! Former Sacramento radio talk show host Tom Sullivan typically opens his now New York based national program with a form of invocation involving our Lord and the respective date such as with Уthe year of our Lord 2015.Ф 2015, hard to imagine, but here it is full of concerns and full of promise. As this newsletter is published and released we will still be celebrating the twelve days of Christmas and looking forward to Epiphany. Our little church is always so beautiful and, as I said last month, especially so over Advent and then Christmas with the tree, lights, candles, poinsettias and, of course, the crшche. We are truly blessed to be able to worship our Lord with reverence in such a setting. Thanks be to God and all involved who make this worship experience possible.
So, here we are in 2015 a year full of concerns and full of promise. We live in a glorious but troubled world, a world that now more than ever needs the light and promise of Christ and from Christians who, like John the Baptizer, bear witness to that light. There is a rather famous short story by Stephen Crane titled The Open Boat which has a well known often quoted opening line that reads, УNone of them knew the color of the sky.Ф A few men are in a small lifeboat after the ship they were sailing in sank at sea. The men are so focused on staying afloat by bailing and rowing that they donТt look up to see the sky or observe the world around them. And while yes I am using this narrative as a type of illustrative analogy on where we at times seem to stand as a community of faith, we are certainly not drowning and are in no imminent danger of capsizing. However, we are small in number and at times are so focused and involved with the day to day week to week activities of running our church that we donТt always pay as much attention to outreach and the community around us as we could and should, myself included.
So, where do we go from here? Well, for starters we should raise our heads and look, listen and pay attention to the world around us. While paying attention to the world around us we need to pray and be open to God and the Holy Spirit. Both Pr. Nancy Feniuk Nelson and Bishop Mark Holmerud have advised us to try to envision where God would have us be in ten years. I believe its safe to say we all welcome and are pleased to see the success of the restaurant Bacon and Butter and the thrift store R 2nd Chance across 59th Street from us. More than a few of the patrons of these establishments avail themselves of the use of our overflow church parking lot. We will be periodically placing flyers on the windshields of these patrons inviting them to having fed and nourished their bodies to now come and feed and nourish their souls with us here at St. PaulТs: Jesus said to them, УI am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.Ф [John 6:35 NRSV] Thanks Lois, Tom, Marian and others for that idea! We also will be looking into establishing closer ties with neighborhood associations in Tahoe Park and the surrounding community. Our annual congregational meeting will take place later this month, if you have other ideas for outreach and evangelism please bring them to our attention then or at any time. So, letТs keep our heads up and look, listen, pray and act.
When troubled Catholic retreat master Fr. John Corapi would express concerns about the future of the church at large and the battle of good versus evil he would often smile and tell listeners that his mother would remind him to have faith and confidence because we know from scripture and from Christ himself who will win out in the end: УHeaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.Ф [Matthew 24:35 NRSV] In conclusion then good friends and fellow believers, with thanksgiving, faith, hope, prayer, confidence, action and love let us move forward with an invocation of our own through Christ and УЕ let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.Ф [Matthew 5:16 NRSV] May 2015 be filled with many blessing for all of you, our church, our community, our nation and for fellow believers throughout the world.
Your fellow servant in the LordТs vineyard,
Chuck Prewett
Council President
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